In the spring of 1997, a 25 year old Little Rock native, John Baker, approached two friends with an idea. Baker had recently returned from schooling in downtown St.Louis, Missouri, and he was dismayed by the almost total lack of trees found along its downtown neighborhood streets. Baker shared hisexperience in St. Louis with his friends, Marie Friend and Billy Wagner,also Little Rock natives. Baker, Friend, and Wagner all agreed that oneof the greatest things going for Little Rock was its natural beauty and particularly the great number of trees found within its neighborhoods.However, the three also agreed that someone needed to assure that their hometown's downtown neighborhood streets never met the same fate as what Baker had seen in the downtown neighborhoods of St. Louis. From their idea, Tree Streets was born.

On June 13, 1997, Tree Streets, Inc. was incorporated by Baker,Friend, and Wagner as an Arkansas non-profit corporation under theDomestic Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1993. Tree Streets gained501(c)(3) tax exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service in July,1997. Tree Streets' mission and purpose are simple: to plantappropriate, long-living trees between the sidewalk and the curb alongthe streets of Little Rock's downtown neighborhoods to provide, amongother things, decades of beauty, shade, energy-savings for adjacentresidents, and habitat for birds and wildlife.

In the fall of 1997, Tree Streets planted its first tree (a redmaple) at the southwest corner of the intersection of Marshall and 17thStreets. Its first planting season saw 26 trees planted along the 1700and 1800 blocks of Marshall Street. Since, 1997, Tree Streets hasplanted over 600 trees (oaks, maples, poplars, and elms) along more than100 blocks of city streets. In the fall of 2003, Tree Streets plantedits 500th tree (a red maple) at the southwest corner of the intersectionof Park and 16th Streets, across the street from historic Little Rock Central High School.